Hello from the windy Isle of Wight. Aren´t we having a violent winter? In this part of the world, we´re experiencing Storm Brendan and have had gales over 80 mph at The Needles on several occasions. I hope it´s all right where you are.

I still try to take my hour´s walk every day, but I often find myself sloshing through deep muddy puddles. On Sunday my intention to walk along the coast near here was stopped by waves breaking over the Coast Path and I had to take the inland route.

I find a daily walk helps with my writing which takes up several hours a day. As a result I have done the first 30,000 words of my latest novel in the last few weeks. This has the working title of The Treasure of the Visigoths the third book in the Languedoc Trilogy.

I understand there has been some confusion about a trilogy being part of the AMR Series (Numbers 4, 5 and 8). I understand this and would explain that this is just the way it happened. The Secret of the Cathars was my most successful novel to date and my wife suggested I write a sequel. This became The Legacy of the Templars in the fullness of time. Then suddenly, out of the blue in late November, The Treasure of the Visigoths jumped on me, with most of the same characters – and I was working on an unintended trilogy.

I held back from publishing The Legacy of the Templars, which I completed several years ago, until I returned from Spain. Now I will launch the book as soon as I have agreed the covers – hopefully later this month. I am thinking of giving my followers a chance of getting the book in the first three days at half-price. I will let you know the details as soon as I am able to.